Why diversity and inclusion is so important to us

Reflecting on last week, when the headlines have been dominated by commentary around immigration and how Australia develops as a multicultural society, I can’t help but start to consider how the concept of inclusion has been ingrained for the health system in this country for many years. Our public health system is founded on the principles of not being biased based on race, gender, orientation or ability. It is led by the needs of the people that present, and a desire to support and help life regardless.

When we look at healthcare professionals, we can learn much in terms of how we value each other and support those around us. Health operates on a needs basis. There are cases of doctors and nurses being called to treat people, who most people in life, would write off. Our healthcare professionals travel the world to work in crisis environments, to support our global neighbours, and this practice is entrenched to keep the profession developing; by developing new schools of thought.

This isn’t limited to the health industry and many of our critical services operate with the same principles.

Research tells us that being diverse can drive greater performance, revenue and employee satisfaction. In the report from McKinsey, it is supported across major economies, that organisations who are in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to be more profitable than the national average, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity are experiencing up to 15% greater financial returns.

By starting to tackle the problem, surely countries can create better opportunity, jobs, healthcare and population satisfaction. It is not an easy problem to tackle but no doubt organisations and governments have a shared responsibility to support all of their communities.

We’ve been considering how we can learn from our market and clients, in our own business, as we drive towards an inclusive working environment. This is set with a backdrop of an everchanging environment that seems to be driven by nationality and religion.

By adopting an approach where we can value people’s contribution and capability, making our jobs internally accessible, we can ensure we can drive greater thought, increase our productivity and create a culture that people want to be in.

As immigration makes accessing talent more and more difficult, by having an approach based on a similar principal to our main markets, we can see Diversity and Inclusion as being critical to us moving forward.